Monday, August 18, 2008

I left for Michigan early Friday morning, August 1, 2008. It was my second round-trip by myself. It's a ten-hour drive, no matter what, and the part that has caused me trepidation is driving around Chicago via I-80.

The first few years we drove there, I-80 was under construction, which often meaning a slow crawl (at best) to the tune of adding 2 - 3 hours to the trip. I didn't want to have that happen while driving by myself.

However, I-80 has been trouble free for some time. Thus, my renewed encouragement to travel by myself.

The Burlington, IA bridge across the MississippiFriday, August 1, 2008 around 7:00 a.m.

I made it!!! :-)This is looking towards the street from the front door.Notice what once was a huge yucca blossom!On Saturday morning, the girls and I visited Home Depot.We found out that they have free workshops for childrenon the 1st Saturday of each month.Making Flag Holders

Saturday's produce from the garden!

Sunday, August 3, 2008Ready for Church

Look what Maya made!

Let's all go swimming, shall we?

Splashing party!

On Monday, we decided to make a birdbath!

We got the sand ready...

Found a great squash leaf in the garden...

Covered it with concrete and left it to cure.

On Tuesday morning, the girls and I went to a park.

Izzy slides

Maya swings

On Wednesday morning, we took off for the public library.

There was good pedaling tothe library! Hayden wasstrolled by Mommy and Isabel and Iwalked and ran! :-)

On Thursday, August 7, we had showers and "Grandma's Beauty Shop!" ;-) Soapy hair makes funny shapes! We had fun and what beautiful girls we had afterwards!

We got to uncover the stepping stone and the birdbath.

First, we must peel away the leaf, if we can.

We needed a break from all that hard work...a wagon ride sound like just the ticket!

On Friday, we got back at it with toothbrushes.It's the best we could do.

Here's a scrubbing video!

You surely were curious about their garden, weren't you?

Sunday, August 10

On Monday, August 11, we went to the zoo!

Digging for dinosaurs!

Taking the train ride!

Tuesday... after breakfast.I had to say goodbye.Isabel hugged me at the table. That was good enough for her. ;-)

Cheryl, Linus and Ada came to visit. Daddy was in Portland, OR for the week.

We're Here!

Ada found a frog.

Here are their seats (next to my unfinished arbor).

The next morning, we went to a special park created several years ago by a raft of community members. This part of the park displays several Fairfield landmarks.Had to include this photo. :-)

We had a lunch picnic. Before we left, we had to search for pirates. ;-)Ada-pirateLinus-pirateMommy-pirateThat evening, Grandpa took Linus fishing.Wait a minute! Who's doing the work?And who's fishing? ;-)Okay! We must let the girls in the boat.Hold it steady.

All aboard!

A little action shot.

It was a big day... but we had to create a few bubbles, too!A nice visit was enjoyed by all! :-)

Even the Grandma-swinger!(Might be in the Shade, but it's not "shady!"):-)